Just 40 years ago, in 1981, Sergio Vargas arrived in the Dominican capital from his native Villa Altagracia with the smell of sugarcane, a suit that he had to fix because it was too big for him and some red shoes that he was given “to be well presented” to the Festival de la Voz, organized that year by musician Rafael Solano and television producer Yaqui Núñez del Risco.
Although in that event he came in second place, on that stage they began his steps through the world of music until he achieved a long journey, especially in the merengue, and that on Thursday night he was carpeted to receive him as a top artist, deserving of his first Latin Grammy.
With his album “Es merengue, ¿algo problema?”, The Dominican artist won the category of “Best merengue and / or bachata album” at the Latin Grammy Awards, which was awarded by the Latin Recording Academy in Las Vegas, United States.
The Dominican Republic celebrates this award for an artist who evaded with strength an unpredictable destiny marked by poverty and inherited in the cane mills.
With his talent, possessing a voice of cane and sugar, he was crowned over the years a sovereign of Dominican popular music.
Just as 2018 was marked as a year that sealed his musical career in the Dominican Republic after receiving the Great Sovereign of the Soberano Awards, from the Association of Art Chroniclers (Acroarte) and the Dominican National Brewery, 2021 certifies him with the longed-for Latin Grammy, which resizes it in the artistic.
This award is a blessing, totally in a world different from the 70s, in which he was faced with the uncertainty of those years when his father was a worker at the Villa Altagracia sugar mill, city where he was born 61 years ago and of which he often claims to be his proud son.
His mother died in 1966 when he was six years old. and he had to join in seeking sustenance from a large family of thirteen people.
His mother blessed him from heaven and on this day he should also be proud of her son, like all the Dominican people.
It is precisely at 10 years of age that Sergio Vargas became aware that he was an orphan and had to go to work.
The death of his mother, Ana Parra (26 years old) left him with a void and a torn soul. Together with four brothers, he lived in the batey Las 80 Casitas de Villa Altagracia.
There, he fought a frequent lawsuit with God, because he did not understand why he could not, like his cousins, have the happiness of wrapping cups or plates in cellophane and giving them to his mother on Mother’s Day.
Sergio grew up yearning for that love for his mother. This is how he remembered her in an interview with LISTÍN DIARIO: “They murdered my mother. She went to the hospital and she told the doctor that she was allergic to penicillin and he told her: – If you are a doctor, take care of yourself; he injected it and my mother passed away ”.
Although he has not been physically, Ana Parra has always accompanied him. The merenguero maintained that he has seen her at significant moments in his life.
“I don’t like to talk about it because people will say that I’m crazy. I remember the day I recorded the song I want her to die I saw that butterfly that had the face of a woman and it flew all over the studio while I was recording; I immediately knew it was my mother ”.
He also said that he saw it as an umbrella preventing it from raining when he appeared at the Altos de Chavón amphitheater (1988) and in the middle of some curtains at the Jaragua hotel when he was rehearsing for a show in 1990.
Memories remain of those times but that is not forgotten, as he will also remember for the rest of his life the night of November 18, 2021 when he received the golden gramophone.
Sergio won the special category of "Best merengue and / or bachata album", where also competed, her compatriots Alexandra with “Bachata Queen”; Manny Cruz, “Love Dance Merengue”; Luis Segura, “The father of bachata, his legacy (Year I, II, III, IV)” and Fernando Villalona with “Insanity”.
+ Disc titles
The album “Es Merengue ¿Algún Problema?”, Has 15 songs such as: “Boquita”, “Amiga”, “Canalla”, “Despilfarro”, “Poor devil”, “In a single day”, “Felicia”, ” The vampires ”,“ Medley bolero ”,“ Convergence / white ”,“ I can’t forget you ”,“ The arsenal guard ”,“ For you ”(For you love),“ What are you looking for? ”,“ If I could decide ”and“ I am the forbidden ”.
Haiti in your heart. Sergio Vargas took advantage of the Latin Grammy stage in Las Vegas to refer to the socio-political crisis in Haiti, a country that is experiencing “a very sad crisis” in the Caribbean region.
“I invite you to come to the Dominican Republic and let’s see the problem of Haiti together, and give a hug to that region in the Caribbean that needs us so much,” said “Negrito de Villa” at the event in Las Vegas, United States. United.
Vargas stressed that he was traveling from “a region on the same route to the sun” in which “we share the island with Haiti” and “today this region involved in a crisis of great sadness: Haiti.”
He also dedicated the award to Villa Altagracia, “a town north of the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo” and to his J & N Records label.
Likewise, he dedicated it to “all the composers, producers, musicians who have been part of my long artistic career; a Grammy for La Filarmónica de Villa Altagracia !, infinitely grateful! ”.
+ Other Dominicans
Nine Dominicans were nominated for the 2021 Latin Grammy Awards. Juan Luis Guerra won several awards, including best tropical song for “Dios thus lo lo”, which he recorded with Ricardo Montaner. Both performed the theme during the gala.
Likewise, he won with his version “Privé” of “Ojalá que llueva café” the award for the best arrangement and best long version music video for the song “Entre mar y palmeras”.
In the category of best singer-songwriter album, which featured the Dominican Covi Quintana with her album “Tomorrow I write another song for you”, the gramophone was won by Mon Laferte for “Seis”. Others who were nominated there were Alemor, “Alemorología”; Alex Cuba, “Mendó”, and Rozalén, “The tree and the forest.”
The night before the gala, the meringue Milly Quezada received the Award for Musical Excellence for her 45-year career in music.
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